My 1st Tri

I'm doing my first tri in 3 weeks and wanted a place to ask those experienced triathletes the nagging 'silly' questions that pop into your mind when thinking about the race and in training.   I hope I'm not the only one with such concerns!

Why does my swimming hat keep working its way off my head?  Is this due to my head being too big (or the hat too small - do they come in different sizes?)?  Or is there some special trick to putting them on so they dont creep off?  Everytime I swim I seem to spend a lot of time pulling the hat back down!

I often get numbness in the balls of my feet while cycling - is there anything I should be doing to avoid it?  My shoes don't seem to be too tight.

Thanks for any help out there, and feel free to add in any other random questions, hopefully someone will take pity!

Hat - finally found something good to say about a certain IM race that has received much bad press. The hat fits really well for pool tri! All the others work off or pull my hair. So stick with it till you find a good one.

Wot FB said re shoes, but do check your cleat position if you can. Get LBS to show you. I get numb feet and hotspots if not exactly right.

If you're riding clipless pedals you might have the cleats too far forward on your shoes - try moving them back 2 or 3 mm. If you get a pain in your knee caps too that may well confirm it........

As for the hat, as mentioned above put your goggles over it. Remember when you are competing though you may have to hand your pool lane hat back to a marshal as you leave the pool, so don't forget to take your goggles off first, or ping - goggles into orbit! Failing that, have you tried Araldite?

Gongergav - lol re Araldite!  I do wear my goggles over my hat, but it jsut seems to work off underneath until it bunches up on top of my head.

Re shoes: I am currently training with flat pedals and trainers, so the soft soles may be the problem.  Any ideas as I can't afford to switch to cleats and cycling shoes?